Jimmy D., Sidewinder, and Me

""Me'' is Dumas Monk, an orphan who is cast from one odd situation to the next in 1948, which lead ultimately to a shootout that he now must explain to a judge in a series of letters, hoping for a lighter sentence. It's quite a story. It begins when he's hauled off to a foster home as an underpaid workhorse; when he shows a talent for pool, he's sort of adopted by Jimmy D., a rangy hustler who knows how to turn skill into a money-making venture; and further educated by Sidewinder, an old card sharp who knew Wyatt Earp and puts Dumas into the card game the night of the shootout. Unless Dumas is as good at lying as he is at pool and cards, this account is that of a true innocent who gets an unbridled initiation into life at the hands of scamps and no-accountswhich is not to say that they don't have their good points. Salassi's story is a well-paced, logical reconstruction of events; while Dumas tries to give his telling some order, readers get a daring, sometimes screwball view of life off the beaten track. Ages 10-up. (August)